`Leave Here Believing It Can Be Better'

HARTFORD — Two groups of residents in separate candlelight marches pledged Thursday to help curb the violence that has touched their neighborhoods with five homicides during the past six weeks.

The steps Asylum Hill residents and Northeast youngsters mapped out were different. But the basis of their motives bonded them: Faith.

``Leave here believing it can be better,'' said Lois Stevenson, Asylum Hill neighborhood organization leader, at the end of a trek through that city section. The walk memorialized four victims at the locations where they were found.

Simultaneously, young African American males involved in a mentoring program walked to the site of a reported botched drug deal where Hartford's latest homicide occurred in the Northeast neighborhood Tuesday.

At the Waverly Street location where Donaire Edwards, 25, of East Hartford, was ambushed while he sat in a car, participants in ``Young Men of Valour'' recited their program pledge.

``His mother flew in from Jamaica this morning to see her son,'' police Det. Keith Knight said. He spoke to 25 youngsters, aged 6 to 18, who meet weekly in the program designed to provide direction, teach responsibility and build character.

``She had to go to the morgue. He isn't answering any question. A mother shouldn't have to see her son that way.''

Knight and several other speakers stressed education, discipline and perseverance. They also urged youngsters to be ``strong enough'' to seek guidance from adults.

Across the city at Sigourney Park, about 75 neighbors huddled. They heard city police pledge increased coverage, stepped-up use of specialty units, and a redoubling of efforts to solve the murder cases. Neighbors were urged to return today for a 6 p.m. rally in Sigourney Park calling for heightened police visibility.

Speakers urged residents to volunteer information to police that might help solve the homicides and deter other crime.

Marchers carried signs with slogans ``Stop the Killing,'' ``Let's Stand Together,'' and ``Stop the Vicious Cycle.'' Other placards urged ``Together We Can Make A Difference,'' and ``End Prostitution -- Get License Plate Numbers.''

At each site short prayers were offered by the Rev. Don Larson, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church. Bouquets were left behind.

At the Huntington Street site -- where the message ``R.I.P. Skeet'' written in chalk lay under a bouquet of crimson-tipped carnations -- five friends of Green's stood solemn and sobbing.

Yiovannie Rodriguez said she was Green's girlfriend, having grown up with him at Bellevue Square housing complex before moving to Asylum Hill. Friends still grieve Green's death, Rodriguez said, and participating in the march was a way of coping.